Gelert

Gelert is the name of a legendary dog associated with thevillage of Beddgelert (Welsh: popularly taken as meaning "Gelert's Grave", but see below) in Gwynedd, north-west Wales.

The story of Gelert is a variation on the well-worn "Faithful Hound" folktale motif, which even in modern times lives on as an urban legend. In this case the dog is alleged to have belonged to Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Gwynedd, and to have been a gift from King John of England. In the story, Llywelyn returns from hunting to find his baby's cradle overturned, the baby missing and the dog with blood around its mouth. Imagining that it has savaged the child, he draws his sword and kills the dog, which lets out a final dying yelp. He then hears the cries of the baby and finds it unharmed under the cradle, along with a dead wolf which had attacked the child and been killed by Gelert. Llywelyn is then overcome with remorse and he buries the dog with great ceremony, yet he still could hear the dying yelp. After that day Llywelyn never smiled again. This story is the basis for a poem by William Robert Spencer written around 1800 and is also recorded by George Borrow in his "Wild Wales", who notes that it is a well-known legend; by "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", which details versions of the same story from other cultures; and by "The Nuttall Encyclopaedia", under the anglicised spellings "Gellert" and "Killhart". Despite this, and despite the presence of a raised mound in the village called Gelert's Grave, there is absolutely no evidence for Gelert's existence.

It is now accepted that the village of Beddgelert has taken its name from an early saint named Kilart or Celert, rather than from the dog. The existence of the "grave" mound is ascribed to the activities of a late eighteenth-century landlord of the Goat Hotel in Beddgelert, David Pritchard, who connected the legend to the village in order to encourage tourism and to boost his own takings.

Despite the evidence against the authenticity of the tale, many arguments have taken place about which breed Gelert may have been. Some favour the Irish wolfhound as a wolf is the animal the hound killed, but others suggest it was a scottish deerhound, which was the most popular choice of hound for royalty of that era.

Notes

On the supposed grave of Gelert there are two slate memorials, one in Welsh and the other in English. The latter reads:

GELERT'S GRAVE

IN THE 13TH CENTURY, LLEWELYN, PRINCE OF NORTH WALES, HAD A PALACE AT BEDDGELERT. ONE DAY HE WENT HUNTING WITHOUT GELERT "THE FAITHFUL HOUND" WHO WAS UNACCOUNTABLY ABSENT. ON LLEWELYN'S RETURN, THE TRUANT STAINED AND SMEARED WITH BLOOD, JOYFULLY SPRANG TO MEET HIS MASTER. THE PRINCE ALARMED HASTENED TO FIND HIS SON, AND SAW THE INFANT'S COT EMPTY, THE BEDCLOTHES AND FLOOR COVERED WITH BLOOD. THE FRANTIC FATHER PLUNGED THE SWORD INTO THE HOUND'S SIDE THINKING IT HAD KILLED HIS HEIR. THE DOG'S DYING YELL WAS ANSWERED BY A CHILD'S CRY. LLEWELYN SEARCHED AND DISCOVERED HIS BOY UNHARMED BUT NEAR BY LAY THE BODY OF A MIGHTY WOLF WHICH GELERT HAD SLAIN, THE PRINCE FILLED WITH REMORSE IS SAID NEVER TO HAVE SMILED AGAIN. HE BURIED GELERT HERE. THE SPOT IS CALLED BEDDGELLERT

ee also

*Saint Guinefort
*A Gelert is also the name of a pet on the site Neopets and is inspired by this story
*Gelert Ltd is the name of a company that produce outdoor equipment and clothing

References

* [http://www.gelert.tv Gelert the Animated Movie]
* [http://www.red4.co.uk/ebooks/wildwales/chapt46.htm Borrow's "Wild Wales Chapter XLVI": "The Valley of Gelert"]
* [http://www.irishwolfhounds.org/gelert.htm Site about wolfhounds which asserts that Pritchard created the grave]